Page 13

CHAPTER EIGHT

WYNTER

“ A re you crazy?” Jaycee whisper-hisses. “He’s at least ten years older.”

“And a complete bastard,” adds Anna, and I laugh at how brave she’s getting with cursing.

“It gets me out the caves for a while,” I say with a shrug.

“Well, you can’t go dressed like that,” Jaycee tells me.

I glance down at my uniform. “It’s all I’ve got.”

“I’ll ask Martha to get some clothes from your father,” Anna suggests, “but for now, you can borrow one of my summer dresses.”

I smile gratefully, and we follow her to her room. She pulls out a choice of three cotton dresses, and I point to a lemon one. “I have a cardigan to match,” she adds, pulling out a short, knitted cardigan.

“Thank you,” I say, relieved to be able to get out of this uniform for a change.

By the time I’m dressed, Lenny is waiting for me outside the women’s chambers. He looks me up and down in a way that makes me uncomfortable, and I fasten the buttons on the cardigan. He holds out a hand, and I reluctantly take it.

“Are you hungry?” he asks.

I’ve eaten the soup Martha prepared, along with the small bread roll we’re allowed, but I’m still hungry, so I nod.

“Great. You’re going to love this.” He leads me through tunnels until we step out onto the hill that overlooks the village.

I glance up at the four houses, wondering what Summer is doing right now and if she’s happier now I’m gone.

My heart sinks a little. I miss her so much.

We go into the village and round the back of the shops. There’s a wooden trapdoor disguised under some thick ivy. Lenny smiles proudly as he pulls it back. “Ladies first.”

I peer down into the darkness. “Where are we going?”

“Trust me, Wynter.”

I take hold of the rusty ladder and slowly climb down. Lenny joins me then lights a lamp from the wall and leads me through more caves. After at least ten minutes, I begin to hear music and laughter. “What is this place?” I ask.

“This is where we come to relax, Wynter.” He stops, turning to face me. “But no one can find out about it. I’m risking everything to show you this.” He turns, illuminating a set of stone steps.

At the top, he bangs on a wooden door loudly. When it opens, light streams through, and I shade my eyes as we step into a room full of people. People I’ve never seen. My heart hammers in my chest as I take in the scene before me. “Thanks, Pete,” Larry says to the man who opened the door.

“They’re all over in the corner,” Pete tells him before walking off.

Larry grabs my hand and pulls me through the crowded room, stopping at a table where Jax sits, along with some guards I don’t know by name. There are a couple women there too, ones I recognise from their visits to the warriors.

As we approach, they all stop and stare. Lenny seems oblivious as he takes a seat, pulling out the one beside him for me. “Wynter, this is H, Carl, Leonie, Anise, and Jez,” he points to each, “and, of course, you know Jax.” I give a small, nervous wave, lowering into the offered seat.

H leans closer to Lenny. “What the fuck are you doing?” he hisses.

“What?” Lenny asks innocently.

“We should go to the bathroom,” Leonie announces, grabbing my hand. “Let the guys catch up,” she adds, also grabbing Anise. I’m so surprised, I let her lead me back through the crowd and into the bathroom.

“I didn’t know we were coming here,” I say the second she turns to me, because I’m sensing the hostility.

“It’s not your fault,” says Anise, giving my arm a gentle squeeze.

“Where are we exactly?” I ask.

Leonie rolls her eyes. “Lenny is such a dumb fuck.”

“We’re in the Tavern,” adds Anise. “It’s a bar.”

I frown, and when she realises I have no idea what she’s talking about, she nudges Leonie, who’s still ranting about Lenny. “This is the outside world,” she explains, using air quotes on outside. “And when your family finds out, we’ll all end up dead.”

“How will they find out?” I ask, reeling from her words. If this is how close the outside world is, maybe there’s hope of us getting out after all.

“You mean you’re not going to run back and tell your father?” asks Anise, looking hopeful.

“I’d never tell him anything,” I say.

“How can we trust you?” asks Leonie.

I shrug, looking around the bathroom. I tap a machine on the wall. “What’s this for?”

They exchange a smirk, and Leonie produces a coin and places it in the machine.

She twists the handle and then hands the blue box that comes out to me.

“Condoms,” she says, and my mouth falls open in surprise.

I’d heard about things like this to help stop pregnancies from some of the girls Jade befriended.

“How did you find out about this place?” I ask, opening the box and taking out the foil packet.

“I wasn’t always in Paragon Village,” says Leonie, watching as I rip the packet and take out the squishy thing inside. I hold it up, frowning.

“Paragon?” I ask.

She laughs, taking the condom. “Paragon is what they call the village. I discovered it from . . .” she trails off, “well, that’s not important.

” She takes my middle finger and places the condom at the tip.

“This covers the man’s penis,” she explains.

“You roll it down like this.” She proceeds to unroll it down to the base of my finger.

I hold it up, staring at it, then I give it a shake and it flies off. Both girls burst into fits of laughter. “That doesn’t seem like it will do much.”

“It fits a penis better. It should be tight when the man’s got an erection,” says Anise, picking it up from the floor and dropping it in the bin. “Let’s go back out there.”

When we rejoin the men, they’re all sitting in silence. Larry points to a drink. “I got you a lemonade.”

I notice the way Anise frowns, but when she goes to speak, he glares at her, and she clamps her mouth closed again, taking a sip of her own.

I follow her, taking a sip and closing my eyes at the sweetness.

“Wow, this is amazing,” I declare. We’re only ever given water or milk at home, and now I’m in the caves, it’s always water.

I drink it all in one go and place the glass on the table.

“Did you meet my father?” I ask Lenny, and all eyes fall to me again.

“Can you all relax,” says Leonie. “She isn’t going to grass us up.”

“You better pray she doesn’t,” mutters H.

“I won’t,” I add, looking him in the eye. “My father hates me, and I doubt I’ll ever get near him again.” This seems to settle him, and he gives me a nod before drinking his own drink.

Lenny stands, taking my hand. “We’re gonna have some food. We’ll join you after,” he tells the group before leading me off to a different table.

I’m feeling happy, the happiest I’ve ever felt in my entire life, and when another drink is placed before me, I drink half before Lenny stops me. “Slow down.”

A woman places a tray between us, and my eyes widen. “I took the liberty of ordering for you.” He points to the various meats and cheeses, but it’s the shiny green round things that I go for, popping one in my mouth and groaning in delight. “Olives,” he tells me, laughing.

“Did you always live in Paragon?” I ask.

“Who told you the name?”

“Isn’t that what the village is called?”

“Only outsiders who join know that name. Don’t say it around anyone important, Wynter. They’ll know you’ve been talking to people who could corrupt your mind.”

“Aren’t we allowed to mix?” I ask on a laugh.

“Outsiders are given rules on arrival, one of which is to never speak about the outside world. And also to never speak of Paragon. Insiders only know your life as the village.”

“So, you came to the village too?” He nods. “All of them did?” I ask, nodding to the group across the room.

“Yes, and the other thing we have in common is we all missed going to the local bar for a drink.”

“Couldn’t you open a bar in the village?”

He laughs. “No, Wynter. Alcohol is forbidden.”

I eat some meats, and he laughs at my over-the-top reaction again. “Salami,” he says. “It comes from Italy mainly.”

“Italy?”

“It’s far away. You have to travel on aeroplanes.”

I grin. “My mother told us about aeroplanes. I’ve always wanted to go on one. We would watch them fly over the village and wonder where they were going.”

“Did your mother talk a lot about the outside world?”

I nod. “Sometimes. Her mother taught her, and she thought it was important we knew some things. And, of course, with planes flying over, she couldn’t avoid some questions.

But she mainly told me how bad it was out there, and that bad people lived there.

” I look around. “But it doesn’t look as scary as she said. Why did you come to the village?”

“My parents decided they wanted that life. I was sixteen, and they thought I was getting in with a bad crowd.” He laughs, but it sounds empty. “I wasn’t. I was just a teenage boy. But I don’t mind it in the village.”

“Don’t you mind all the rules?”

He shakes his head. “No. They protect the people.”

I finish my drink and notice I’m feeling dizzy. “Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to just be normal and live on the outside.”

“Trust me, Wynter, it’s not that great. Your mother was right about one thing—bad people do live here. The order in the village is what the rest of the world needs.”

“But they make warriors fight,” I argue.

“They’re beasts,” he tells me. “What do you think their life would be like out here?”

I shrug. “They wouldn’t have to fight or . . . take part in ceremonies.”

He laughs, and I feel myself blush. “You’re so innocent,” he says. “They love all that.”

“Really?”

“One thing you should know about those beasts, they love sex. It’s what they crave, and if they were out in the normal world, they’d be a danger to innocent women. They’d prey on them. In the village, it’s controlled well. Their urges are met in productive ways.”

“Did my father say that?”